I was forced out for Labor mate: ports chief

ANOTHER senior public servant has accused Michael Costa of forcing him out of his job and replacing him with a "Labor mate" as the ICAC continues examining the NSW Treasurer's handling of a separate board appointment.

In an interview with the Herald, David Field, the former chairman of the Sydney Ports Corporation, said Mr Costa was politicising boards. Mr Field says he was "jumped before he was pushed" from the chairmanship after he was told by Mr Costa at a meeting in December 2005 that he wanted him out by May.

He was replaced as chairman late last year by the investment banker Paul Binsted, who once held a fund-raiser at his house for the former Labor leader Mark Latham. The federal shadow assistant treasurer, Chris Bowen, thanked Mr Binsted for helping him get elected in his maiden parliamentary speech.

Mr Field also complained recommendations he made for appointments to his board were rejected by Mr Costa in favour of people Mr Field said were preferred by the former ports minister, Eric Roozendaal, and his office.

Mr Field said he asked Mr Costa at the December 2005 meeting for the reappointment to the board of Sibylle Krieger, a partner in Clayton Utz, and Arlene Tansey, an ANZ executive.

Instead they were replaced by Michael Braham and Rene Van Der Loos, who Mr Field believed had connections to Mr Roozendaal and his office.

A spokesman for Mr Roozendaal denied the claims last night: "The minister has met Ms Van Der Loos once and Mr Braham is an acquaintance he has met only in a professional environment."

Mr Braham denied any Labor connection. The former regional head of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission admitted knowing Mr Roozendaal but said he was not a friend. Ms Van Der Loos could not be contacted.

Mr Binsted did not deny his Labor connections, but said he had previously served on the corporation's board between 1995 and 1998, and said he had also raised funds for the Liberal Party.

Mr Field said that at the meeting, he refused to step down from the board when Mr Costa asked. He was then not contacted about leaving early or having his tenure extended, so he voluntarily stood down in November last year.

He said the Government had "undoubtedly" changed its approach on the boards of government-owned corporations since Mr Costa became Treasurer.

"What the Government has now created is [a situation where] nobody on the board of Sydney Ports has any experience in shipping," he said.

He said the former treasurer Michael Egan and former premier Bob Carr had made fewer political appointments.

Mr Field also told the Herald that during his tenure the Government had unnecessarily delayed infrastructure projects, such as the Port Botany expansion, for political reasons and had made top public servants scapegoats.

Mr Field said he had the highest respect for Mr Egan, who appointed him chairman in 1998.He complained of a pattern of Government behaviour in which senior public servants were sacked, rather than have ministers take the blame.

Mr Field said he had also been dismayed that the chief executive of Sydney Ports, Greg Martin, had only been reappointed by the new minister Joe Tripodi until the end of this year. But he said he believed Mr Tripodi was on the "right track" in the portfolio.

Last night, Mr Costa issued a statement saying: "I have thanked Mr Field for his service. Shareholders [ministers] make decisions about directors on state-owned corporations in the best interests of taxpayers."

The claim comes as the ICAC investigates Mr Costa over his sacking of the former Transgrid chairman Philip Higginson.

Mr Higginson claims he was axed after he failed to reappoint a candidate for a superannuation board that Mr Costa and a union official, Bernie Riordan, wanted.